Secret's out: Mystery-shopping gig was scam

Sunday

Mar 30, 2008 at 12:01 AMMar 30, 2008 at 9:28 AM

HELP WANTED: Looking for someone willing to shop at high-end stores, dine at fine restaurants or check out the amenities at luxury hotels -- and get paid for it. The successful applicant will pose as an ordinary patron while gathering information to help feedback-hungry businesses evaluate their products, services and employees.

HELP WANTED: Looking for someone willing to shop at high-end stores, dine at fine restaurants or check out the amenities at luxury hotels -- and get paid for it. The successful applicant will pose as an ordinary patron while gathering information to help feedback-hungry businesses evaluate their products, services and employees.

What's not to like about a job like that? Who wouldn't jump at it?

The problem is, many of the people who sign up to become so-called "mystery shoppers" end up on the wrong end of a whodunit, authorities say.

Gary Balser of Powell thought he was about to hit pay dirt when he got a call from a mystery-shopping business that had spotted his resume on an employment Web site. The business said it was giving out "part-time consumer assignments."

"They interviewed me twice on the phone," said Balser, 47.

He got the "job" -- and, shortly thereafter, a $1,500 cashier's check from the Bank of New York.

His initial assignment was to test the MoneyGram funds-transfer service at an area Wal-Mart. Specifically, he was to deposit the cashier's check in his bank account and then wire the money -- minus $140 for his time and trouble -- to an address in Canada.

Not long after Balser completed the task, he got a call from his bank informing him that the cashier's check was fraudulent and that his account would be tapped to cover the withdrawal.

"It wiped out $1,500," he said.

If misery indeed loves company, Balser should feel a good deal of comfort.

Consumer-protection agencies across the nation have heard from scores of would-be mystery shoppers who cashed counterfeit checks and wired some of the funds to scammers in another country, usually Canada. The Ohio attorney general's office has received at least three such complaints in the past two weeks alone.

The Federal Trade Commission said the public also should be wary of businesses that promote Web sites where people can "register" to become mystery shoppers -- after they pay a fee for information about a certification program, a directory of mystery-shopping companies or a guarantee of a job.

The Mystery Shopping Providers Association, a Dallas-based trade group dedicated to valid market research, said mystery shopping isn't a path to quick, easy money. Legitimate companies, the organization said, never pay mystery shoppers before they do any actual work.

"It is unfortunate there are scammers out there preying on individuals looking for legitimate mystery-shopping opportunities," said John Swinburn, the group's executive director. "The bottom line: If the offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Poorer but wiser, Balser said he has a new assignment -- this one self-imposed.

"If I can save other people from losing money by me getting MoneyGram or Wal-Mart involved and then shutting this company down, that'd be great."